법률에서의 모호성 해소: 적합성 이론의 적용

In this paper, we propose a solution for the problem of vagueness in law texts from the viewpoint of linguistics. When a legal dispute arises, a kind of legal reasoning arises that resolves the dispute by applying legal norms. However, it is necessary for lawyers to interpret the legal norms in the stage of legal reasoning since the norms are generally abstract enough to cover a variety of cases. Therefore, the principle of “void for vagueness” is required in the preparation of a legal text. The principle requires that the use of vague expressions in legal texts be avoided as much as possible, but vagueness is a property of language itself, so vague expressions cannot be completely removed from legal texts. In order to resolve vagueness, we attempt to interpret the legal norms from the perspective of pragmatics, especially within the framework of the relevance theory that is based on the cognition of human beings. According to the relevance theory, an utterance or a text in and of itself is an incomplete proposition due to the use of ambiguous or vague expressions, but it can become a complete proposition by the supplementation of information from context or by adjustment to the meaning. Once these criteria are met, the complete proposition is no longer vague and furthermore does not violate the principle of void for vagueness. In summary, we can say that it is possible to make a consistent and reliable judgment as to whether or not the principle of void for vagueness is violated in legal texts by applying the method presented in this paper.